It was a lovely Sunday. The sun shone from a cloudless sky and it was a very hot day of a wonderful summer. Michiru rolled over to the ice cream shop and smiled as she read the offer. She wore a white summer dress and a summer hat covered her head. "What do you want, love?" asked Haruka and came nearer. She wore her short blue jeans and a wide, sleeveless shirt. The first three bottoms were open and Michiru liked it to look at her girlfriend. Today she looked really sexy. She wore her sunglasses again, but today she didn't misuse them to hide her bruises. The scars disappeared during the last weeks and now nothing remembered anymore of the rude attack of her own father. Nothing but her nightmares and time by time her depressed mood. But Michiru was there every time she felt sad and she hindered her to try her dangerous starving again. She convinced me that she loves me the way I am. "I can't decide. It all sounds so delicious." Answered the smaller girl and sighed unsure. "I wanna a chocolate ice cream." Demanded a high voice and Haruka felt how someone grabbed her right hand. She looked down at the redden cheeks of the little girl. Dark eyes looked pleading up into smiling green ones. "Please, Haruka!!!" Hotaru blinked and looked at her with that look Haruka couldn't resist. The little girl wore a long black dress and Haruka wondered for the maybe tenth time if she didn't sweat a lot. "You'll get one, princess." Laughed Haruka and saw that her girlfriend finally decided for an ice cream herself. It was lemon. "Two." Hotaru ducked because she had been too cheeky but Haruka only laughed more. Then she nodded and ordered the ice creams. With a happy grin on her face Hotaru took the waffle and ran along the sandy way by the sea. On the one side there was the huge park of Tokyo and on the other side there was the wide ocean. Haruka loved that peaceful way and it wasn't too stony for Michiru's wheelchair. First they wanted to go on holidays but after the visit with the ill girl they decided to stay at Mugen Gakkuen during their school holidays. So they went out with Hotaru as many times as the girl was strong enough to leave her bed. Dr. Tomoe thanked them often that they cared about his daughter because he simply didn't have to time to. Only Kaori looked angry at them each time they took the little girl and left the door. "She's so different now." Whispered Haruka and watched Hotaru running over the sand and waving at the seabirds above. "Hai, maybe she's ill, but she's still a little girl who wants to be free." Answered Michiru and smiled as the little girl turned around and waved at them. Then her face got paler as she saw how Hotaru gasped for breathe. The ice cream fell upon the sandy ground and the little girl went into her knees. Her dark hairs covered her face as she winced again. Silently she whimpered while she tried to catch enough breathe to carry on. "Princess..." The next minute Haruka was by her side and took her carefully into her strong arms. Hotaru looked up and her face was very white. She looked as if she would faint and tears burned in her dark eyes. "It's over in a minute..." groaned Hotaru and mad such a sad face that almost broke Haruka's heart. She felt how the little body in her arms trembled and could feel that it was too hot for Hotaru in her dark dress. Determined she opened the bottoms and tried to help the little girl out of her clothes. "No..." whimpered Hotaru and tried to shake her head. The roundabout she seemed to sit in increased it's speed and suddenly the little girl coughed. Haruka held her as she threw up her breakfast. The young racer didn't wince away. She simply supported her as she leaned back against her chest. "You need to get out of your armor, princess. It's too hot and you can hardly breathe." Declared Haruka and looked up at Michiru who rolled next to her. The young violinist was very pale herself and looked very concerned down at the small girl. "No..." declared Hotaru in a weak voice, but she couldn't defend herself as Haruka stripped her dress and freed her from her prison that took her breathe away. "Don't look at my body. It's so ugly..." whispered the little girl and turned her head away. Tears burned in her dark eyes but she couldn't let them fall. She was simply to weak for. Haruka looked shocked at the scars that covered the little body. A small, pale body. A fragile body... Shortly the young racer and Michiru exchanged glances. Then Haruka stood up with the girl in her arms and went over to the sparkling water. She knew about the accident Dr. Tomoe's daughter survived some years ago. But she didn't know that Hotaru escaped death so tight. I didn't suspect that she already knows how rude this world is. Slowly Haruka entered the water and forced herself to go deeper into it, because it was still cool and she wasn't the person who swam with every temperature. She wasn't a fish like her girlfriend. I didn't know that Hotaru went through the same bloody hell we experienced, too. "You aren't ugly, princess. You're beautiful." Whispered Haruka and wondered how shaky her voice suddenly was. Hotaru gasped but a tiny smile appeared on her pale face as she felt the nice cool water of her hot skin. Suddenly she could breathe again and the dizziness disappeared partly from her mind. "Better now?" asked Haruka and looked concerned down at the little girl in her strong arms. "Hai..." answered Hotaru and touched carefully the ocean's surface. Then her dark eyes grew wide. "But now you're wet all over and..." "I wanted to take a bath this evening and so I did it now. Nothing to worry about, princess." Haruka laid her head in the neck and looked up to the endless sky above. "Do you see the sea bird there?" asked the car racer and dark eyes followed her look. Hotaru nodded and suddenly wrapped her arms around Haruka's neck. "It was also weak when it was young. But it got stronger with every day it grew up. One day you'll be as free as that bird out there, Himme-chan." said the young racer and stroke over the velvet hairs. The little girl watched silently the animal flying careless in the sea wind. For a long while they stood in the waves and watched the animal. They simply enjoyed the presence of each other and Hotaru felt so safe and secure she never felt with her father. Not after the terrible accident. "Last night I had a strange dream." Declared Hotaru finally very quietly and Haruka almost missed her words. "I wasn't ill anymore and you called me your daughter." The little girl sighed and it sounded older than her eight years. "I wish you were my parents." The young racer swallowed. She didn't know what to say. What shall I reply? That I'd like to call you my daughter? That you're the only child I'd be able to love without fearing to become as rude and as ignorant as my father? Haruka sighed slightly and shook her head without mention it. She's too small. She wouldn't understand it. So the older girl only squeezed her little friend in her arms tighter and together they watched the sea bird screaming near heaven. Michiru sat in her wheelchair next to the water and glanced over to them. A thin smile laid on her face as she watched the two persons she loved more than anyone else on this world. *** "You'd be a fantastic mother." Said Michiru and drank from her ice cool cola. They sat on a huge blanket in the park. It was already in the evening and they decided to make a picnic. "Nani?" Haruka looked surprised up. Michiru only pointed at the little girl laying on the blanket. She had laid her head into the young racer's lap and slept deep and tight. Thoughtless Haruka stroke through the black hairs. Now Hotaru wore Haruka's white shirt instead of her dark dress. So Michiru could admire the black narrow top her girlfriend wore under it. Haruka looked really sexy and the young violinist smiled when she thought what she would do with the young racer as soon as they got home. "I don't think that I'd be a fantastic mother. My whole life I hated children and I really can't imagine myself being pregnant. I never wanted to become like my father." Haruka sighed deeply but she cheered up and leaned herself against the trunk of a huge tree that gave them pleasant shadows. "You'll never be like him, Ruka. And when I see you with Himme-chan, I can imagine you very good as a loving and caring parent." Michiru smiled tenderly at her girlfriend. Then she leaned forward and their noses met. "It's a complete another thing with our princess. She isn't like the other children. She's not impatient, she doesn't scream at us and she's simply a nice little girl. She's something special." Haruka shrugged her shoulders and Michiru giggled happily. "You should hear yourself! You sound like a proud mother talking about her daughter!" Before Haruka could reply anything Michiru had kissed her tenderly. The young racer smiled as she wrapped her right arm around Michiru's waist and pulled her closer. Then she closed her eyes and kissed her with all her love back. The kiss lasted for a very long time and as always they forgot everything around them. "Do you wanna go back?" asked Michiru after the soft kiss ended slowly. She leaned her head against her girlfriend's shoulder and watched the beginning dawn. Haruka first looked down at the sleeping Hotaru and then at the smiling Michiru and shook her head. I don't wanna ever let you go. Here's were I belong. The young racer frowned but her next thought was so naturally that it didn't really surprise her. Here's my family. "Nope, just a few more minutes." Whispered Haruka and stroke over the soft skin over her lover's right arm. Michiru shivered slightly and giggled. "Okay." She answered and her smile grew wider. She took her girlfriend's hand and held it tight. Both of them watched the sun set without saying a word. It wasn't necessary. They understood each other with big words. Sometimes it was enough jut to sit next to the other one and enjoy her presence. To feel that I am not alone. So it was this time. *** She sat there. Her eyes were closed while she listened to her music. The violin was a familiar weight on her shoulders. Her fingers moved over the strings and a soft melody filled the air. It evolved in her head some months ago and the more she played it the more it changed it's style. The more she loved it. It was kind of a love song and what once begun with a sad and desperate melody ended slowly in a sweet and tender one. Michiru didn't open her eyes, as she heard the familiar piano in the background. The player seemed to understand her music and the feelings in it. The second instrument followed her violin as if it has always been that way. Softly it accompanied the high melody and complemented it perfectly. These two parts fitted together perfectly. The audience stood up as the song ended. It was the last song on her first concert she gave after the accident. Michiru opened her eyes and smiles into the bright arena's light. Flash lights danced through the air and she was sure that her picture would be on every newspaper the next day. At last, after a long year the daughter of the famous piano player Kaioh Gendo returned into the art's world. And it was a great come back. The halls were sold out and the people obviously seemed to love her music. And no one every felt affected that I sit in a wheelchair. Michiru turned slightly her head and looked over to her girlfriend. Haruka wore a white tuxedo and she looked really beautiful, Of course the young racer wanted her to accompany in her violin play. Haruka had always been very good with the piano and the audience seemed to like her play as well. But Michiru was, of course, the star of the evening. >Arigato.< Michiru formed the words silently with her mouth. It had been Haruka's idea to give some concerts again. And now the young violinist knew that it had been the right decision. >I love you.< A tender smile appeared on the tomboy's face and Michiru couldn't help but she returned the smile with all her strong feelings towards her girlfriend. >I love you, too.< Then she rolled nearer at the rim of the stage, took the micro and thanked the audience for coming. Haruka watched her and enjoyed the smile on her lover's now redden face. Maybe there's no cure for her paralysed legs. Maybe she will never be able to walk again. Haruka sighed slightly but she knew that there was no reason for sadness anymore. The deep blue eyes of her girlfriend sparkled exited. Maybe she will be dependent of this wheelchair the rest of her life. But she won't moan to death anymore. Now she's happy again. Maybe that's what all the doctor's always wanted although they couldn't repair her backbone. Maybe they simply wanted to heal her soul. Slowly Haruka rose from her chair and came over to the young violinist as she winked after her. With a strong soul everything is possible. Even with a weak body. *** The audience yelled as the winners splashed themselves with champagne on the huge race track's stage. The Grand Prix of Japan just started and this year all of the journalists were sure that only one person could win it: Tenô Haruka. The son of the jailed business man Daisaku Tenô finally returned to the race track with his fast Suzuki. With the red motor bike his opponents knew and feared too well. It was a great comeback. He was very fast and of course he won the first race of this year's Grand Prix. And no one doubt that he wouldn't lose any race at all. "You was great." Michiru smiled up to her girlfriend as a wet Haruka came laughing from the stage. She wore a heavy trophy in her hand and she looked really cute with the wet race suit and the messed blonde hairs. Haruka simply laid the trophy down then she took her girlfriend into her strong arms and swirled around with her without saying a word. "Hey!" laughed Michiru surprised and looked down at happily shinning green eyes. "I love you." Whispered the young racer and smiled softly up to her. A smile only she knew. Especially here on the race track. "I love you, too." Replied Michiru and they shared a long and loving kiss. Not mention that the flash lights flew through the air again and that there would be other pictures on tomorrow's newspaper than simply a smiling winner up on the stage. >She simply needs love.< heard the young violinist Yamado's voice inside her head. Michiru smiled while the kiss became more and more passionate. She already has my heart. And I'll love her with all consequences. The young violinist giggled as Haruka slowly finished the kiss and looked up with her with that dreamy look in her eyes that always remembered Michiru of a small child. And at the same time of a very cheeky young woman. She know about my love. About our love. "Do you wanna take a shower with me? 'Cause now you're almost as wet as me." Whispered Haruka and Michiru laughed because there was no regret in her girlfriend eyes. All she found were complete different feelings. With that love we can reach every goal. *** The city around her fell apart. Darkness covered the sky and made day to night. People ran by. Screaming. Crying. Blooding. Some of them fell on the ground and she was suddenly certain that they would never stand up again. “What...” she whispered and heard the thunder roll above her. She ducked as flashes crossed the sky and in their lights she could see the whole destruction. The skyscraper did not longer touch the horizon. Now they looked like broken teeth. The streets were full of people in panic. But they couldn’t escape their destiny and many of the died before they could reach their cars. And some who did, died by an accident. Because no one drove normal at this time. At these wars. “What...” whispered Michiru again and walked slowly through the chaos. Her whole body hurt but she didn’t even mention that she could walk again. The wheelchair was no were and the costume she was wearing was so strange and at the same time so familiar. It looked a little bit like her school uniform, but the colours were darker. Maybe a dark blue or a dark green. She couldn’t define in the twilight. The skirt was very short and normally she had been ashamed about it. It showed all her legs and almost her button. Guess Ruka would love to see me that way. Michiru grinned but her smile froze as she saw the figure suddenly appearing next to her. She kneeled on the ground and hold a shadow in her strong arms. Her shoulders trembled and it seemed as if the person was crying. In silence. Oppressed. But obviously in great pain. Michiru frowned as she stepped nearer. She knew the figure too well and she would have recognized that voice everywhere. “Ruka?” she asked and shivered as her lover raised her head. Tears ran openly over her pale cheeks. Her dark green eyes looked up to her with so much despair in them Michiru hadn’t seen during the last year at Mugen Gakkuen. She hadn’t even seen when Mr. Tenô took his daughter home two years ago. I’ve only seen her so desperate once. Michiru swallowed as she stepped closer to look over the shadow in her girlfriend’s arms. When Ruka thought I’d die and leave her forever... The young violinist gasped as she saw the little girl laying there on the ground. Motionless. Lifeless. Her small face was whiter than the wall. Blood covered her dark dress and her dark eyes looked up to the sky with no more expression in them. Michiru felt like hot tears burned in her eyes. Hotaru couldn’t see her anymore. Now she looked at another world. At a peaceful place beyond this life... “What happened?” asked the young violinist with a shaky voice and noticed that Haruka wore a similar costume as Haruka simply shook her head. More tears ran down her cheeks while she squeezed the body in her arms tenderly. As if she would be able with that desperate gesture to keep the life that was long gone. “I’ve never wanted...” cried the blonde and ignored the loud crash as another skyscraper exploded in the dark night. Then there was only the sobbing of the two girls left. All other sounds seemed to die away. “They said that it’s our mission to rescue this world. To find the talismans and to prevent... to prevent... to...” she swallowed hard and stared down on her hands that still hold the little girl’s arms tight. “I wanted to rescue, not to kill...” “What happened to Himme-chan?” asked Michiru and sobbed shocked. She couldn’t trust her lover’s words. “She was the messiah! The world could only win this battle when she’s dead. When the messiah of silence would have never been born at all...” Michiru shook her head and swallowed hard while she watched again the city around falling apart. No, not only the city, the whole world was falling apart. “We’ve won the battle but lost the war.” Whispered the young violinist and went slowly on her knees beside her girlfriend. “So I killed her...” whispered Haruka and her voice broke finally. Her sobbing increased and she buried her her face in the bloody velvet hairs she loved to stroke so much. “This price wasn’t worth it...” Michiru leaned forward and embraced her lover and the dead girl from behind and grabbed them is if they were her only lifeline. This all can’t be true! At that moment there was a loud sound like the exploding of a bomb. Then there was only silence... “NOOO!!!” Michiru raised from her bed and looked wild into her bedroom’s darkness. She laid back and took a deep breathe. Tears were burning in her eyes but she didn’t want to let them fall. She didn’t want to be weak. To remember that strange dream. The dream I have so often in the last weeks. The young violinist reached over to the bed’s other side and found the second pillow empty. At that moment she heard the shower and the loud music that filled the whole apartment. It was the sad song she heard for so many times during her darkest hours after her accident. When she thought she was weak and a burden. After Haruka convinced her from the opposite she took the CD away and swore never listen to it again. It was a very sad love song and it ended in a tragedy. “Ruka?” whispered Michiru and rolled over to her bed’s rim. It took her all her powers to get into the wheelchair. She didn’t care that she only wore her thin night skirt. The cloth pasted to her still trembling body and her hairs felt sweaty. She took another deep breathe and rolled over to the bathroom. This time she used the automatic. She was simply too exited and her hands trembled to much to use the normal way. “Ruka?” The music received her as she slowly entered the bathroom. The shower was on and steam filled the air. Michiru turned the sad melody quieter and rolled over to the open cabin. Her girlfriend crouched on the ground of the shower and stared into nothing. She had wrapped her arms around her knees and she looked very alone. Water ran down her body and she still wore her wide shirt. It was now wet and pasted to her body. Haruka put a little bit on weight during the last weeks but now Michiru only saw the trembling that went through the body she loved so much. “Ruka?” asked the young violinist and cursed her wheelchair. She wanted to go out of it, to enter the cabin and to embrace her lover. To hold her tight and to show her that she wasn’t alone with her fears. With the strange nightmares. Haruka slowly raised her head and seemed to awake from her trance as she saw her girlfriend sitting next to the shower. Looking down at her in concern. Michi-chan’s looks as shocked as me... “You had that nightmare, too?” asked the young violinist and Haruka only nodded. The water was very hot and it almost burned her skin. But she didn’t want to leave it. To go to that terrible world outside again. “Come out, Ruka.” Whispered Michiru and reached for her. It’s a cruel world out there. Haruka blinked and turned off the shower. She reeled as she came on her still trembling legs. But there’s my Michi-chan out there. With her I am able to face everything. The taller girl left the shower. But she didn’t reach for a towel. Instead she kneeled down before the wheelchair and laid her head on her lover’s lap. She wrapped her arms around Michiru’s waist and closed her eyes as the smaller girl started to stroke comforting through her short wet hair. “I don’t know what it all means.” Whispered Michiru and sighed. Haruka only squeezed her harder and didn’t even mention that she wetted her lover, too. The young violinist hold her tight. She didn’t move. She simply stroke her girlfriend’s hairs and tried to forget her own nightmares as well. Finally, after maybe an hour, they just sat there in that position, Haruka spoke. Her voice was shaky and it were only a few words. They sounded like a whispered that only Michiru could hear. “I’ll never want to hurt you. Nor her.” *** The morning light woke her up. It was maybe one hour after dawn and the cloudless sky promised a wonderful late summer day. Michiru yawned and smiled as she felt the warm body beside her. They both laid on the living-room’s couch and only a thin blanket covered their naked bodies. After a while they both started to freeze in the bathroom. Both of them took a towel and silently they went over to the living-room. They sat down on the couch and watched some music videos without saying a word. They simply held each other tight. In a loving and comforting embrace. They didn’t talk. They didn’t need to. They could feel the other’s fear. They understood it. Sometime during the night Haruka fell asleep at last. Michiru switched off the tv-set, embraced her lover tighter and followed her into a dreamless, peaceful sleep. Was it just a nightmare? Michiru looked down in her girlfriend’s now relaxed face. Her hairs were now dry again but helpless messed. The young violinist giggled quietly. She loved those intime moments. Only she was able to see the tomboy in such a scene. She’s really cute! Michiru didn’t want to wake her girlfriend up, but she simply couldn’t resist. She leaned forward and kissed her lover slightly on her lips. Haruka smiled against her lips, tightened her embrace and pulled her nearer. Then she returned the kiss with all her love. “And I thought you’re a late riser.” Teased Michiru and looked into sleepy green eyes. “I’d stand up every day at five in the morning when you’re the princess who’s kissing me awake.” Replied the young racer and Michiru was relieved as she saw the smile on her still pale lover’s face. The young violinist grinned and her hand slipped under the blanket and touched Haruka’s soft skin. The taller girl groaned. Then she closed her eyes and kissed her Michi-chan with all her strong feelings. "I see, you've already discovered your love." Declared suddenly a high voice next to them. The two girls interrupted their kiss immediately and looked up in surprise. A figure stood in the bright sunlight. She wore a white dress and long white hairs covered her back and almost touched the ground. She held a strange staff in her hands and with the long sleeves of her dress she almost looked like an angel. “Who the hell are you?” asked Haruka with an suddenly angry expression on her face. Quickly she left the bed and covered her nakedness with one of the towels which still laid on the carpet. Michiru grabbed the blanket tighter and looked at the young woman in surprise. Maybe she was twenty five. The young violinist couldn’t define. But something was in those blue eyes that made her look a lot older. Her look was so wise, she could have been older than twenty five years. She’s many centuries old... Michiru blinked but she didn’t know where that strange thought came from. “What are you doing in our apartment?” Haruka was now really angry. She took the remote control as a kind of weapon and stepped nearer to the figure. The appearance only smiled loving at her. Like my mother... Haruka frowned but she concentrated on her attack. She jumped and landed hard on the ground as the young woman simply stepped aside. “As wild as ever.” Giggled the figure and shook her head. “But that’s why you’re part of the big mission I’ll have to give you, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune.” Haruka came to her feet again and shook her head. Protectively she stepped between the shinning woman and her girlfriend. “Whatever you’re telling us, it’s nonsense. And now, leave our apartment. NOW!!!” she declared cold and pointed at the door. She still hold the remote control in her suddenly trembling hands. “You’ve already had those nightmares. Don’t you?” Haruka and Michiru exchanged short glances and the young violinist pulled the blanket tighter around her suddenly freezing body. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but...” “They’re all true.” Declared the young woman and her look was not longer amused. Now it was concerned and very serious. Normally she doesn’t look that serious. Michiru frowned over her strange thought and saw how Haruka clenched her fists. “No!” she shouted, but it was too late. Haruka had already attacked the strange person again. But without any effort. Again she landed on the carpet and she almost lost her towel. “These wars can’t be true!” whispered the young racer and shook her head as she looked up with a hateful look to the shinning woman. “I won’t hurt Himme-chan!” “Himme-chan?” answered the figure and raised one eyebrow. Then she sighed and sat down on the chair next to the couch. Suddenly the shinning woman looked very exhausted. “It’s all beginning again, isn’t it? And I don’t have the power to prevent it. And my daughter isn’t awake now. It will take another two years until she’ll know again that she’s your Princess and your future Queen.” “What are you saying?” whispered Michiru and smiled shaky at Haruka who still laid on the soft carpet. Her body trembled and the young violinist saw that the nightmare was still alive in her lover’s head. “I am simply telling you about your destiny. You are Sailor Neptune... and you’re Sailor Uranus.” Declared the shinning woman and pointed over to the taller girl. “You have to find the three talismans to prevent that the messiah of silence will be reborn. Because he will destroy this world with all it’s living creatures. My daughter isn’t strong enough to defend the messiah by herself. She’s too small now and still too weak. So I’ll give you the task to search for the talismans. You’re the strongest of all senshi and I know that you never betrayed the Moon Kingdom’s family in the past. I know about your loyalty and about your great powers. And about your strong will to reach every goal.” Haruka stared speechless at the shinning woman. The imagination of the dead Hotaru in her arms was still very lively in her mind and she didn’t want to believe that this nightmare could become true. One day... “Hai, we have a strong will.” Declared Michiru and laughed a sad laugh Haruka had heard a lot during the last year. “Maybe we’re even the senshi you’re looking after.” Michiru thought about the light that rescued Haruka and her before the deadly blade of Haruka’s father. The young violinist could remember too well the strange uniform and the strange powers that helped Haruka to defeat her insane father. She screamed “Earth Shaking” and a huge golden light hit her father and he fainted. It looked like a big planet. Maybe Uranus? And then all these terrible nightmares... All these wars... “Maybe this mission is our destiny. Maybe we have to fight in these wars. But Queen...” automatically she used that name without knowing why. “there’s something you didn’t mention at all. We aren’t so strong as you might think. At least I am not so strong.” Michiru smiled a sad smile and pointed over to the chair the shinning woman was sitting in. “How should I protect the world in such a thing?” The Queen looked down at the chair, saw the wheels at both sides. Her blue eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth for several times and shut it again. Silently she stared at the now kneeling Haruka and at a Michiru who stared determined back. “Oh my god...” whispered the shinning woman and left the wheelchair as quick as possible. “Oh my god...” she repeated suddenly out of breathe. Without saying a word she came over to the couch and took the blanket away before Michiru could react. The young violinist blushed deeply but she couldn’t escape. “I am paralysed.” Declared Michiru with a quiet voice and lowered her head. “My legs are too weak to carry my body any longer.” At the next moment Haruka was by her side and grabbed the blanket back from the shinning woman with a warning look on her now redden face. Carefully she covered her lover again with the clothe and took her into her strong arms. “What happened?” asked the Queen obviously shocked and shook her head again. Tears burned in the deep blue eyes and Michiru wondered where she knew that reaction so well. But she simply couldn’t remember. “It was a car accident. My parents died and I survived. As a cripple...” she swallowed hard and felt how her lover embraced her tighter. “You’re no cripple, Michi-chan. And that woman’s simply nuts.” She growled and Michiru was sure that her Ruka would try to attack the Queen again if she tried to hurt her somehow. “Paralysed? But you’re Sailor Neptune! You can’t be paralysed! That wasn’t suppose to happen!” said the Queen with a tone in her voice that made quiet Michiru very angry. “No, it wasn’t suppose to happen! Often I asked myself, why? Why me? But as time passed by I started to accept my destiny. Maybe you’re right and I am that Neptune, but then you’ll have to accept a handicapped senshi!” she screamed and suddenly tears burned in her eyes. “Maybe I’ll have to ask someone to help me into the building or where ever those talismans are, because there’re a lot of steps. Maybe I can’t run away when the messiah of silence will be reborn and maybe I’ll awake every night screaming in my bed because of some strange nightmares. Maybe I’ll have to fall out of the bed every night to take a shower afterwards, because my bloody wheelchairs rolls away from the rim?! Well, but it all wasn’t suppose to happen, was it?” Michiru started desperately to sob and buried her face in Haruka’s shoulder. “Okay, that’s enough, Ayako. You can come out now.” Declared the young racer and pressed her lips together. But no red haired girl stepped laughing out of the corner. Nor did anything else happen. “I don’t know about an Ayako. I am you future Princess’s mother. It is my task to tell you about your destiny and about...” she shook her head and stepped nearer. Haruka looked wild up to her. Wild as an animal. Ready for the big jump to defeat the shinning woman forever. “You can’t defeat me, because I am your Queen.” Giggled the figure but her blue eyes were still very serious. “Trust me, Uranus. I won’t ever do you any harm.” The shinning woman leaned forward and stroke thoughtful through the long sea green hairs. “That wasn’t meant to happen. You have a hard mission and I can’t risk of loosing you because of that accident.” She looked from a tear wet face into an angry one. She frowned and got paler as she saw the scars only she was able to see because of her powers. “And it wasn’t meant that such a bad thing happens to you. But I didn’t know...” The shinning woman sighed worn out and stroke over Haruka’s pale cheeks. The young racer winced away but didn’t defend herself. “I thought it would be better to leave you in your old lives as long as your mission isn’t needed. But I didn’t know about the hell you went through. If I had known about it, I...” she sobbed and bowed her head. “Gomen, Uranus and Neptune. I want to be a good Queen but I left you alone. So many things happened that shouldn’t have happened at all!” As she raised her head again her cheeks were as wet as Michiru’s. She reached again for the blanket and pulled it slowly away. Michiru lowered her head and felt how Haruka squeezed her harder. None of them dared to move nor to think. There was something in the shinning woman’s voice that told them that they could trust her. “I can’t take away the scars from your soul, Uranus. And I can’t bring back you parents, Neptune. I have a lot of powers but there’re points when they’re limited.” She sighed worn out and raised her golden staff. A golden light filled the room and the two girls closed automatically their eyes. “But there are things I can change. Well, at least I can help you. It’s your will to accept it.” Michiru could feel the pain that went through her body. She gasped and felt how her lover pulled her closer. Then the pain was gone and she felt very tired. She couldn’t open her eyes again. She was too exhausted. She simply laid her head against Haruka’s shoulder and felt the blanket on her freezing skin again. Then she settled slowly into a deep but peaceful sleep. “What have you done?” asked Haruka surprised and rocked her sleeping Michi-chan gently. What the hell was that for a bright light? So strange but yet so known... “I gave her new hope.” Declared the shinning woman and lowered the staff a little bit. She looked as tired as the smaller girl and reeled a bit as she stepped back. “Where are you going?” “Where I belong. But I’ll come back as soon as you’re ready to take your mission and full fill it. Now isn’t the right moment, Uranus. But we have to hurry up. The enemy’s slowly wake up and we don’t have a lot time until the final battle.” The young woman waved and automatically the young racer waved back. Suddenly she was sure that she knew that strange person. And that she could trust her. “Queen?” An unsure smiled appeared on the tomboy’s face. “Hai?” The shinning woman returned for a last time before she vanished into the bright sunlight. “Michi-chan and I... that wasn’t supposed to happen, was it?” The Queen smiled tenderly down at the sleeping face of the future Sailor Neptune and then at the concerned one of Sailor Uranus and nodded slightly. “Don’t worry, Uranus. You’re meant to be together.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Epilogue: But life without you. I don’t know. It stopped raining at dawn. Soon the raising sun broke soon through the dark clouds that had covered the sky for the last days. In the bright light the last raindrops started to sparkle and it looked as if nature was covered with shinning pearls. Fresh wind played with the coloured leaves of the trees. Some danced exited in the morning dust and the rushing was almost appeasing. Surely it was going to be one of those days why this months was sometimes called golden September. The wheels screamed as the car stopped sharply at the parking space near the hospital. A tall girl jumped out of it and forgot to lock it. Wild wind played with her short blonde hair as she ran towards the main entrance. She wore a dark shirt over her blue jeans and she stumbled more than once as she ran upstairs. She lost her car keys and swore as she picked them up in a hurry. She took her sunglasses away with an energetic motion and her dark green eyes looked very concerned as she pushed open the door. With an determined expression her face she went over to the nurse at the reception and almost crashed against the counter. “Where’s Michi-chan?!” demanded Haruka and the nurse looked at her in surprise. She was new and so she didn’t know her. Nor the handicapped girl who visited her doctor twice a weak since a year. “Where’s Kaioh Michiru?! Your colleague, nurse Oshima, called me up and told I should hurry up. That it’s an emergency and that something happened...” Haruka shook her head with a wild motion and took a deep breathe to calm her exited nerves down. Everything is all right! Michi-chan’s okay! The accident was about one year ago. She was doing so fine during the last months. There can’t be a bad accident. Haruka clenched and opened her fists while she waited impatient as the nurse tipped her girlfriend’s name into the computer. But what if there was a relapse? Her back bone had a very bad damage and... “No, please!” whispered the young racer and slammed at the counter as the nurse didn’t find her lover’s name. “I can’t find a Laioh Michiru here.” She answered and Haruka rolled her eyes. “Kaioh Michiru!” she screamed at the new nurse and took another deep breathe. “Kaioh and not Laioh! And they told me it’s an emergency! I don’t have any time to...!” she shook her head, clenched her fists and turned around. And froze in motion. She opened her mouth but she couldn’t say anything. Her mind started to spin around and a dizziness controlled her thoughts. “Ruka?” The smaller girl stepped out of the corridor’s shadow. She reeled slightly as she walked very slowly over the white underground. Sweat covered a very concentrated face but her deep blue eyes shone happily. Her arms trembled but she held herself tight at the crutch. It seemed to take her all her powers to move her legs. One after another and still it looked very clumsy. But Haruka was suddenly sure that Michiru would be able to run again. To swim and to dance. If she only trained hard and worked concentrated with her body. You have the power to defeat your illness. Haruka swallowed hard as she finally could escape her trance. It jingled as the car keys crashed the ground but she didn’t even hear it. Hesitantly she stepped over to her girlfriend. Still unsure if this all wasn’t just a nice dream and she would awake the next moment. You have so much power to make our both lives fulfil. “Michi-chan...” whispered Haruka and caught her girlfriend as she simply let go of her crutches and wrapped her arms around her neck. They both didn’t have enough strength anymore and so they went down on the ground. Holding each other tight. You have enough will to live for the both of us... “Ruka...” sobbed Michiru but Haruka was certain that those tears weren’t tears of sorrow which run down her girlfriend’s cheeks. Those were tears of happiness and endless joy. They looked each other deep into the eyes. Then they shared a long and loving kiss. An older nurse snort silently into her handkerchief while the doctor stood at the other end of the corridor and smiled a satisfied smile. The word >Wonder< filled the air like a steady whisper while more and more nurses watched the couple kneeling on the ground. They all knew about the accident and they all knew about the wonder that happened one year ago. When they all thought that Kaioh Gendo’s daughter would die. But she awoke from her deep coma and carried on with her life. With a life in a wheelchair. Trapped in a handicapped body for the rest of her time on earth. And now a second wonder happened. Now she was able to walk again. At the moment with the help of crutches but they all were sure that she wouldn’t need them for long. Behind the doctor stood another man in a white overall. His white hairs were messed and the sun reflected in the glasses he wore. His right hand laid on his daughter’s shoulder. The little girl watched over to the couple and a happy smile appeared on her normally pale face. Her dark eyes shone with all the love a small girl could experience and she knew that everything would be okay. Some day... Haruka-papa! Michiru-mama! “I love you.” Whispered Haruka between two kisses and pulled her Michi-chan a little bit closer. Michiru smiled against her girlfriend lips and deep green eyes looked deep into shinning blue ones. “I love you, too.” Who ever the strange woman was. Whatever the three talisman or the messiah of silence meant. Maybe there dreams were a vision of future? Maybe they two were really those Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune? Maybe the Queen had been right about their destiny? Those were questions she couldn’t really answer. All they could do was to wait and to start a new life. A life together. After Haruka’s father, after the deadly accident. They needed one year to recognize that they could overcome everything as long as they were together. They went through hell. More than once. It was alike what would follow. If the Queen’s words were true or they had been a vision of a bad nightmare, they would see some day. And whatever would happen after those words they were sure that they would overcome it, too. The kiss become more passionate. More loving. It’s alike what will happen as long as we’re together. >You’re my saviour, Michi-chan.< >You’re the light in my darkness, Ruka.< They knew silence for a long time. For more than only two years it determined their lives. They both knew it’s violence. Michiru could remember too well all those nights she laid awake in her bed and heard the rushes of the near sea. Knowing that she would never be able to swim again with her paralysed legs. But she remembered also how her Ruka was there every time she couldn’t bare her destiny anymore. Every time she wanted to die her girlfriend was there. She comforted her and step by step she gave her back her will to live. To carry on. No matter what happened. They knew loud rage and silent pain. Haruka could remember too well each time her father did hit her. Her body hurt almost one week after every attack. And she remembered too well that evening when she broke down at the arena and Rumiko and her teacher brought her home. How her Michi-chan helped her to understand and to love her own body again. They experienced a lot during the past year. They went through hell and back. They knew how it was to be sad. To be desperate. To be at the end of one’s power. To be comforted. To be needed. To be loved. But life without the other one, they didn’t know. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- At the end Michiru was able to live with her handicapped body. She accepted it and she could do her hobbies again. She started to swim, to play her violin on big concerts and she even learned to drive the car (of course with her Ruka’s help). And she went out with her girlfriend and her Himme-chan. Actually there was no need for a cure, because the real cure had been the one in her mind. To accept and to love her body again was more important than to learn to walk again. And of course Haruka was a big help for her on that long, stony way. But at the end I decided for a healing by the Queen, because for her mission Sailor Neptune needs a strong body. She would be in great danger to search after the talismans in a wheelchair. I simply thought about this story as an alternative how Haruka and Michiru’s love could have been evolved. They both needed each other. Together they could walk through hell together but alone they’re lost or at least very alone. Maybe they could live without the other one but they wouldn’t be happy. They wouldn’t be loved. Really loved. I know this story is very dark and maybe it’s very depressive at some scenes. For all people who are handicapped or live with a handicapped person maybe it’s a little unreal. Especially the ending. I simply imagined myself how it could be to sit in a wheelchair without a chance of running away. I know that there’s often now chance of a cure (especially not for a wonder like that). Some other aspects of this story are experienced. Again, if I used wrong details or mentioned anything that hurt anyone, then I am sorry. 37.07.2000 – 26.08.2000
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